The Global Goals Design

Opportunity

The visual communication system for the Global Goals, created by Trollbäck + Company in collaboration with Project Everyone is universally adopted and used all over the world today. So how can we create the same enthusiasm for the 169 targets connected to the Goals?

Process

In order to create a better understanding of the targets, we decided to apply the same approach as we did for the 17 main Goals. To make sure that the work would be well anchored and widely used, we initiated conversations with the United Nations and Project Everyone.

Change

Our work is a substantial contribution to enhance global partnerships for the Goals. We have created a common language which visually tells the story of the Global Goals and how we can work together to reach them.

Global Goals website

Once the communication system was finalized, it was launched on a new version of globalgoals.org, created by our digital partner code and conspire.

The Global Goals website is not only attractive, informative and extremely fast, it is also accessible in every possible scenario, even offline, for a global audience. And it’s all open source.

The 17 goals

The story of the Global Goals begins in the fall of 2014 with director Richard Curtis meeting with the founder of Trollbäck + Company and The New Division Jakob Trollbäck to discuss how to best make the agenda famous. Invaluable insights from UN ambassadors and NGOs along the journey pushed us to develop icons that could be universally understood.

The designs and palette carefully consider cross-cultural relevance and symbolism. The circular logotype for the master brand is an expression of unity using the full palette from the icon system. The result is a communication system, sign-off by all 193 member nations. It is today universally adopted and used - a hopeful language of change to inspire everyone, everywhere to act.

"Creating the beautiful icons for the Sustainable Development Goals was a simple idea that has delivered enormous impact. Without the icons and Trollbäck + Company’s tremendous work on visually telling the story of the Sustainable Development Goals, we simply would not be where we are today."

Cathy Calvin -

President and CEO of the UNF

"Trollbäck took the epic, technical, impersonal detailed complexity of the Sustainable Development Goals and made them clear, passionate & accessible. A crucial, life-saving, game-changing, history-making piece of work. You can’t fight for your fights if you don’t understand."

Richard Curtis

Screenwriter, film director and philanthropist

"The genius of the work that Trollbäck did was to create for the Sustainable Development Goals a visual language which communicates with the greatest simplicity the plan for the planet. The beauty of the design belies the brilliance of the intelligence behind every choice of favellas, catwalks to conference rooms."

Corinne Woods

Director of Communications at World Food Programme

Global Goals ambassadors

In partnership with Project Everyone and Numbers in Action, we evolved the language of the Global Goals system for print and motion. The infographics visualize projected outcomes for the Goals through 2030, communicating our progress towards eradicating poverty, reversing climate change, and achieving gender equality.

Our branding has been adapted for installations, events, conferences and social media around the world since the Fall 2015 launch. Nearly every event designed to propagate the message uses our design system in some capacity. Content has included Fifty Nine Productions’ building projections at the UN building; print and motion for the project Icons to Outcomes, as well as famous celebrities lending their support, voice, and image to their favorite causes.